


Eternity-014

by fatefulERA



Category: Dangan Ronpa, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-17
Updated: 2014-10-05
Packaged: 2018-02-17 18:13:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 12,447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2318690
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fatefulERA/pseuds/fatefulERA
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There is no beginning or end. T014-06.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue I: Past Tense

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, hello, hello everyone! This is a repost from fanfiction.net and my first time writing here.  
> I do hope you enjoy!  
> -fatefulERA

**Prologue I: Past Tense**

" _In recent news, scientists have discovered traces of an alternate timeline in which despair-"_

An average looking girl skipped across the busy crosswalk, not paying much attention to the mindless banter of the screens above the scramble crossing of Shibuya, Tokyo. Swinging in pace with the girl was a plastic bag full of various goods from the convenience store- instant ramen, convenience-store coffee, a few half-boiled eggs- the not-so-carefully selected mix would be her dinner for tonight, as it usually was.

She hummed quietly to herself, shoulder-length black hair ruffling as she made her way down various roads and alleyways, the tassels of her snow-white scarf fluttering behind her in the breeze. Finally, she reached her destination. The apartment complex in front of her was not particularly new, but not particularly old, either. The young girl found it to be incredibly cozy, so she skipped up the outdoor stairway with a smile on her face, beaming when she made it to her room. With a bit of fumbling, she inserted her key into the keyhole and pushed the door open to reveal the humble living space inside.

The girl did a little twirl as she stepped into the sparsely furnished room and closed the door tightly behind her. Bending down to undo the laces on her coffee-colored winter boots, she noticed a peculiar envelope sitting on the ground near her door.

 _The mailman must have dropped it off earlier_ , she decided, reaching over to pick the envelope up. _I wonder who it's from?_

After fiddling with the envelope's seal for a while and finally managing to get it undone, she took out a letter and held it up to the light to read:

_Dear Akina Hiroyuki,_

_You are formally invited to attend Hope's Peak Academy as the Super High School Level Theorist._

_Theorist?_ Akina wondered, bursting into a fit of giggles shortly after. _What a silly title! It's just my imagination at work._

She scanned over the details at the bottom of the letter regarding finances and several uninteresting, legal things. Tuition would apparently be paid for, and living expenses would be taken care of as long as she was an active student there. To accept her invitation, all she had to do was ride the 47th subway to the last stop on the first day of school, two days from now.

She grinned, the excitement building within her. Many talented students would be there, and she had been invited to attend as one of them. As she finally kicked off her boots and flopped backwards onto her couch, she sighed in content, hugging the letter close to her.

_It's going to be a great year!_

Oh, how wrong she'd been.


	2. Prologue II: Bamboo Leaves are Rustling

**Prologue II: Bamboo Leaves are Rustling**

Akina carelessly opened up her pamphlet, flipping and rotating it a variety of ways until she found the schedule for the Tokyo metro.

_47th route… 47th route…_

She glanced at the overhead sign that read, "Platform 24". She was definitely at the right place. The transit was supposed to arrive any second now.

Singing softly to herself, Akina tucked the pamphlet into her bag and skipped around the empty station. It was late at night— 10:00 PM, to be exact —and most people had already gone home, leaving the theorist on her own. The invitation had said to take the 47th subway to the last stop on the first day of school, but it hadn't given her a requested time. With the 47th subway making thirty rounds a day, Akina had decided to take the very last one.

 _"_ _Bamboo leaves are rustling, rustling,"_ Akina sang, leaping over cracks in the rundown pavement. _"Swaying close to the rooftop's edge,"_

She liked the silence. No one was there to interrupt her thoughts.

_"_ _Oh, how the stars are twinkling, twinkling; gold and silver grains of sand,"_

It was kind of lonely, though.

_"_ _Five little wishes; I have written,"_

From the distance, the low rumbling of the fast-approaching train could be heard. Akina strolled up to the edge of the platform, still singing as the speakers announced the arrival of the last train.

 _"_ _All these stars are twinkling,"_ Akina chimed, as the transit pulled up and she stepped inside. _"... and watching from the sky."_

With her song complete, she sat down on one of the plush, fabric-covered seats and glanced around the empty train car. It appeared that she was the only one here, so late at night. Laying her head back and closing her eyes, she allowed herself to relax, wanting to rest a little before she arrived at the academy. She was rightfully tired; she had spent the entire day digging through her belongings and deciding what to pack. Eventually, she'd just stuffed a few sets of clothing into her bag and called it good, too lazy to even fold them properly.

She sighed in content, the subtle movements of the train rocking her to sleep. As her consciousness began to fade, she thought she heard a wispy voice, not unlike her own.

_"_ _These stars have stopped twinkling… and so I'll say goodbye."_


	3. Prologue III: Enter the Sea of Trees

**Prologue III: Enter the Sea of Trees**

Akina gasped, hands instinctively reaching up to claw at whatever clung onto the upper half of her face. Her hands couldn't get any traction along the object's smooth surface, the thing not budging even when she grasped onto the edges and pulled with all of her might. Leaves and dirt flew into the air as she flailed about, desperately fighting the inanimate attacker, before finally realizing that it wasn't hurting her. She drew in a deep breath, laying still as she caught her breath.

The mask on her face had sizable eyepieces, allowing Akina to see the tall green trees whose leafy branches filtered the sunlight around her. Roots and shrubbery intertwined into patchwork on the uneven forest floor, short cliffs and hills appearing occasionally in the distance.

Akina staggered to her feet, pulling a stray leaf off of her cherry-colored tailcoat and glancing around the area. _This way,_ she heard a voice whisper, and froze. _Come this way._

She was hesitant about following the strange voice, desperately looking around for any guidance or other ways out. Still, with nowhere else to go, she set off in the direction that the voice had come from, and hoped for the best.

* * *

"Fuck!"

In a different part of the forest, a boy dressed up in a black suit swore as he tripped on an inconspicuous vine.

"I gotta be fuckin' high or somethin…" he muttered. He'd been wandering around for the forest for maybe five minutes now, with no sense of direction and a mask on his face. The mask wouldn't come off, no matter how hard he tugged on it.

Frustrated, he kicked a nearby pebble into the air.

 _This way,_ he heard. He immediately stared at the pebble, thinking that it had spoke upon being kicked.

"You talkin' to me?"

_Come this way…_

The second time around, he realized that the voice was coming from the distance, and was not, in-fact, the rock speaking. _Finally,_ he thought. _Some fuckin' directions._

Leaving the miserable little pebble behind, he stuffed his hands into the pockets of his black suit pants and followed the voice into the depths of the forest.

* * *

The worst part about this whole situation was that the mask wouldn't come off, no matter how hard he pulled. A mask? Oh no, that wouldn't do at all. How would the others see his pretty face?

The boy sat on a tree stump, playing with the blue rose pinned onto the heart of his black school blazer. He sighed. It was so lonely and quiet here, with no one else around.

 _This way,_ he heard suddenly. He stood up, brushing off his black slacks and turning his head to the direction of the voice. _Come this way._

Lured in by the promising thought of a companion, the boy wandered off towards the voice.

* * *

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! What is this?!"

The girl in a sky-blue pilot uniform leapt to her feet, glancing around frantically as she took in her surroundings.

"Trees, bushes, plants… this must be… a forest! Yes!"

She struck a triumphant pose, as if she'd just uncovered some major plotline. Unfortunately for her, her victory was short lived as she realized that she had no idea where she was, or where she should go. She paced back and forth, her silver medallion flopping around her neck as she took quick, energetic steps.

 _This way,_ a voice called. Not even waiting for the second, "come this way", the girl changed directions and almost ran towards the source of the voice.

* * *

The girl threw her head back and filled the area with the sound of deranged laughter, her light green hair falling to her waist behind her. Her eyes were wide in delight. This was amusing, so very amusing!

A forest, and a completely silent one at that. Why was she in a forest? Why was there a mask on her face? There were so many questions to be answered, so many mysteries to be solved- this was much better than attending some simple-minded school!

Having recovered from her outburst, she cleared her throat and haughtily straightened out her tie.

 _This way,_ the presumed host called. Her face lit up in a wide grin. _Come this way._

Keeping her arms at her side to keep her red coat from catching in the branches, the girl eagerly pursued the source of the voice, and strode off towards the heart of the forest.

* * *

By the time Akina arrived at the clearing, the other students had already gathered. In total, she counted nineteen people, each with a mask of an animal on their faces. _What is mine?_ she wondered, before strolling up to the crowd.

"Hello, hello, hello!" she greeted, arms outstretched as if giving them all a big hug. "I see I'm late to the party!"

"U-Um, that's okay…" a tiger-masked boy wearing a white martial arts uniform said. "We just got here too."

Somebody crossed their arms over their chest. "And you are?"

"I'm Akina Hiroyuki!" she did a little twirl, causing her black skirt to flutter into the air. "Very nice to meet you."

"A koi, huh?" A boy with a snake mask grinned unnervingly at Akina. "Guess you _are_ the only fish out of water here… chehehehe…"

Akina's eyes widened in awe. "Ooh, I'm a koi?"

"That's right…"

_"_ _Now that everyone's here… shall we begin?"_

The raspy voice that had brought them all to the clearing reappeared, speaking from the air behind them. Akina turned around, immediately filled with a mix of surprise and wonder.

In the air was a dragon- half black, half white, and easily the size of a small house.

A gust of wind battered the students as the monochrome dragon grounded itself with a thud. Akina instinctively dug her heel into the earth behind her to keep herself from falling. She noticed that a few others hadn't responded so quickly, now on their backs in the dirt.

The dragon rumbled with laughter at this, its sharp-toothed grin causing a very selective few to cry out in terror.

 _"_ _I'll take that as a yes,"_ it said, its voice deep and not unlike a smoker's.

"Wh-What are you?" someone cried.

 _"_ _Me? I am a dragon, of course,"_ It approached the students, tail swaying in the background as it crawled on all four towards them. _"My name is Monoryuu, and from this point onwards, I will be your headmaster."_

"Headmaster..? No way, this can't be Hope's Peak! This is a forest!"

The dragon blinked with a unique red eye. _"Although this is not Hope's Peak, I_ _ **am**_ _your headmaster. You will be taught here, just like you were taught at your other schools. Here, however, the only subject is despair."_

The suit-wearing boy in a coyote mask snarled. "The fuck do you mean, 'despair'?!"

 _"_ _It is exactly as it sounds, heathen,"_ The dragon sighed deeply. Akina noticed a few embers coming out of its mouth. _"You will lose all hope and be consumed by dread."_

"In just a year?" Someone else asked. "We'll graduate eventually, and then your 'lessons' won't mean anything."

Monoryuu cocked his head at the naive student. _"Just a year? Who said you were staying here for 'just a year'? You'll be staying here for the rest of your lives, fools, although you weren't completely wrong about graduating."_

"R-Rest of our lives?"

"In a forest?!"

In the midst of this chatter, Akina raised her hand, waving frantically at their supposed headmaster. "Oh, oh, I have a question, headmaster sir! How do we 'graduate' then?"

The dragon peered at Akina with his other eye, a black dot on the white half of his face.

 _"_ _Immerse yourself in your lessons,"_ he said. _"Embrace despair."_

Akina tilted her head to the side, confused as to what he meant. Monoryuu seemed to notice this and continued, closing his eyes.

_"_ _Kill someone here, and get away with it."_

The students stared, their minds slowly registering the dragon's words. For a moment, time seemed to pass silently.

And then a girl wearing a deer mask began to laugh.

"Ahahaha, kill someone? This dragon- this dragon's hilarious!"

No one else laughed with her, although Akina could see a few others smiling or grinning wickedly. The others were stunned into silence.

"C'mon guys," the girl said. "This has to be some kind of joke."

 _"_ _Joke? This is certainly no 'joke' of mine,"_ The dragon snorted and shook his head. _"Honestly, I thought at least_ _ **one**_ _of you would have recognized your location by now."_

"... Aokigahara," the crocodile boy muttered. "... Suicide Forest."

 _"_ _So there's some knowledge in your class after all,"_ Monoryuu laughed. _"Hopefully he stays alive long enough to keep things interesting."_

"Hang on," a frog-veiled boy said. "How can you be so sure that we'll kill?"

 _"_ _..."_ Monoryuu remained silent for what felt like an eternity. _"I just am."_

"What kind of answer is that..?"

"..." Monoryuu ignored the murmured comment, instead undoing a satchel around his claw and tossing a small device about the size of a playing card to each of the students. Akina caught hers with ease and tapped on it, letting out a small noise of surprise when its screen flickered to life and showed a picture of a koi fish.

 _Koi,_ it read beneath the picture. Apparently she was a fish now, not a human being with a name and title.

On the back of the device was a barcode and a small clasp for anyone who wanted to keep it on their belt or bag.

 _"_ _These are your ElectroIDs,"_ Monoryuu explained. _"They're pricey to replace, so try not to do anything stupid with them. They'll help you understand the basic concept here: rules, layout, and a little something for later. Now, does anyone have any_ _ **sensible**_ _questions?"_

No one spoke. In fact, Akina noticed that a few students were already inching away from the group.

Monoryuu snorted. _"Good. Looks like you all understand what you're supposed to be doing."_ He extended his wings. _"I'll be off for now, if no one has anymore questions or comments."_

"You'll never win." A girl in an otter mask said defiantly.

The dragon laughed. _"Silly girl,"_ he said as he ascended into the air, causing another gust of wind to hit the students. _"I already have."_

With that, the strange creature was gone, vanishing into the horizon of a treeline.

Akina turned to address the others, to at least get their _names_ from them- but they had already dispersed, not wanting to be near each other in the midst of a killing game.

She sighed to herself, nuzzling her face down into the white fabric of her scarf.


	4. Chapter I-I: Slip Away

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, hello, hello everyone!
> 
> I found out that some of my submitters sent in their characters to other stories! Oh no, reused characters? That won't do at all! For this reason, some of the students have been replaced.
> 
> Crocodile has been replaced by Tiger. Two more students were also replaced, but they hadn't been introduced yet!
> 
> Not to worry, everyone will play a role in the story at some point. Whether your character is a side character or a major part in the plot, you'll have to wait and see!
> 
> Akina and the others won't know about the replaced students. To them, Tiger has always been Tiger, and the other three just never existed.
> 
> I hope you enjoy!
> 
> -fatefulERA

**Chapter I-I: Slip Away**

For a place of capture, the camp certainly wasn't lacking in facilities.

Akina stood in the doorway of the storehouse, staring at the seemingly endless rows of food that filled the building. There was certainly enough to last them a few months, maybe even a year if they were careful.

She took a deep breath, relishing the rich scent of old wood and oils.

_Smells familiar..._

Her vaguely forming thoughts were interrupted by a clatter to her right. Akina instinctively flicked on the lights, hearing someone mutter something under their breath nearby.

A hispanic boy wearing a frog mask stood behind one of the shelves.

She stared for a while before greeting him.

"Hello."

"Hi," He tugged awkwardly on the rolled up sleeve of his white dress shirt. "Akina, right?"

She nodded, picking up the can by her foot and holding it out to him, smiling. "I think you dropped this."

He reached for it almost hesitantly.

"Sorry," he blurted just as his fingers reached the aluminum. "I didn't mean to scare you. I just wanted to sneak out without you noticing... I'm Rafael, by the way. The SHSL Memorizer."

Akina felt her ElectroID vibrate briefly in her pocket. When she took it out, a picture of a frog was on the screen, a few words beneath it.

**Information Updated: FROG - SHSL MEMORIZER**

"SHSL Memorizer?" Akina asked, before a look of realization crossed her face. She thumped her fist into her open hand. "Oh right, talents! I'm supposed to be the SHSL Theorist!"

_So names really don't mean anything to the system._

Rafael's ElectroID buzzed as he replied. "That's a neat talent. I'll be sure to remember that."

"Is that what you were doing?" Akina asked. "Memorizing everything in here?"

He nodded. "I figured that if we were going to be stuck here for a while, I might as well get to know the area. It's not so bad here, even if we _are_ stuck here for the rest of our lives. We have food, shelter, company… we just have to look at the bright side of things, y'know?"

"Of course!" Akina said enthusiastically. "You're the first person I've talked to here. I'm sure there are others like us, who don't want to give in to this whole 'killing' thing."

Rafael smiled. "Would you like to check out the dining hall? I'm sure that there'll be some others there. Maybe we can talk to them and convince them that it's nothing to worry about?"

"There's a dining hall?"

"Yep," he said. "That's the first place I went. It's got a real homey feel to it. Everything's already set up for us."

"That's nice of them." Unsure where the dining hall was, Akina stepped out of the doorway and allowed Rafael to lead her, noting that the sun was now directly above the clearing, signalling noon.

"So," he said as they began to walk towards a lodge-like building a short distance away. "What does my mask look like? I've been curious ever since I saw everyone else's."

"Um…" Akina peered at him. His eyes were obscured by shadows, much to her dismay. "It's mostly red, with weird markings. The markings are kinda like dashes that go through your eyes, but they're black and really thick- like a flat tipped marker! If you're worried about your appearance, I think the red complements your vest… it's a shade darker though."

He laughed. "My appearance is the least of my worries right now, but thanks for that."

He turned his head to look at her. The two were roughly the same height, but Rafael was just a bit taller. "If you're curious, yours is white with red markings. Looks good on you."

"Thanks," she beamed. Akina loved red, if that wasn't already obvious from her china red jacket. "Yours looks good on you too!"

"I'm glad." He grinned as he pulled open the doors to the dining hall, gesturing for Akina to enter in a "ladies first" sort of motion. Akina nodded her head graciously and skipped inside, jumping in delight when she set her eyes fell upon the decorations of the room.

"Wow," she sighed, taking in the long rows of tables and formal dining sets. "Everything looks so _expensive_ …"

Rafael walked over to one of the tables, running his hand along the white tablecloth. "It's nice, right?"

"What, you two've never seen a formal dining room before?" asked a snippy voice.

Sitting cross legged at another table was a girl with curly, pale green hair that fell just to her waist. Although her eyes were obscured by a red and white fox mask, she sneered at the two in a way that just screamed, _inferior scum._ Akina blinked, intrigued by the girl's confidence.

"Hello!" Akina waved frantically from where she stood. "I'm Akina! It's very nice to meet you, fox-lady!"

"Fufufufu…" The girl laughed softly, covering her mouth with her hand. "How amusing!"

Akina tilted her head to the side. "Amusing? What's amusing?"

"You!" she exclaimed. "Ah, I didn't think anyone so clueless existed in this world..."

Akina thought she heard the girl mutter something else under her breath, but didn't care enough to ask about it. Rafael protectively placed a hand on Akina's shoulder, smiling although his face showed a bit of ill-hidden concern.

His smile almost faltered as he spoke. "So, who are you?"

"Hm…" The girl placed a finger on her chin, tapping it in contemplation. "Oh, I know. Why don't you call me Fox?"

"Fox?" Akina asked. "But that isn't your real name, is it?"

"Akina…"

"Oh, so you have a brain after all!" Fox shook her head in mocking disapproval. She hopped off of the bench seat, tugging her red jacket into place before striding up to Akina and Rafael. "Akina, huh? That's a pretty name, it's too bad you're undeserving of it. Tell me, how does _'fishbait'_ sound? Your mask is of a koi, after all."

"Fishbait..?"

Rafael stiffened. He tugged on Akina's jacket, herding the innocent theorist away from the girl.

"C'mon Akina," he said quietly. "Let's get out of here."

"But…"

"C'mon."

"Fufufufu… running away so soon?" Fox jeered. Still, she made no move to pursue them. "That's no fun."

Rafael said nothing as he ushered Akina through the doors to the kitchen, much to Akina's protest. Once inside, he leaned against a counter and sighed, closing his eyes in frustration.

"God," he said. "I can't stand people like her. How can anyone be so… _narcissistic_?"

"I'unno," Akina chimed, rocking on her heels. "She seemed like a pretty nice lady to me!"

Rafael stared blankly at Akina. "Are you- are you being sarcastic?"

"Of course not!" she huffed. "I mean, she said Akina was a pretty name!"

"She also said that you were undeserving of it and nicknamed you, 'fishbait'." Rafael pointed out.

"Still!" Akina protested. "I'm sure she's just one of those people that get nicer after you get to know them..! … maybe."

Rafael couldn't help but feel soothed by Akina's stubbornness.

"Am I…?" a voice asked hesitantly. "Am I interrupting something?"

Akina and Rafael both turned their heads in the direction of the voice.

That'd been the second person they'd missed today.

They really needed to start paying more attention to their surroundings.

A boy stood at the open door of the refrigerator, one hand holding a cup of convenience store coffee and another tilting up his brown fedora as he stared on, bashfully. He wore the mask of a songbird, the creamy pearl color of the mask contrasting against his brown utilitarian jacket.

"... not at all," Rafael said.

"Oh," The boy smiled, relaxing. "That's good."

He released his fedora, allowing it to rest flat on his head and tousle up his already unruly blonde hair. The slightest turn of his head signalled that he was now looking at Akina.

"You're Miss Akina, right?" he asked. "You must be brave, to share your name so readily like that! I'm Lucas Blixt, the SHSL Music Producer."

Akina felt her ElectroID buzz again.

**Information Updated: SONGBIRD - SHSL MUSIC PRODUCER**

"Ohh. Songbird. Music Producer. I get it!" Akina remarked. "I'm the SHSL Theorist, by the way."

Lucas jumped as his ElectroID vibrated in his jean pocket. Akina guessed that a lot of people were unaware of the reaction that came from hearing someone else's talent, with everyone sulking off on their own right after Monoryuu left.

"Rafael," Rafael introduced briefly, grinning. "SHSL Memorizer."

"Oh!" Lucas exclaimed as his ElectroID buzzed again. "Those are nice talents!"

He paused, eyes glancing around sheepishly. "Um… so… what do you two think about this whole… you know... killing thing? Was that too personal? I'm sorry… truly sorry… just forget I asked… again, I'm sorry..."

His voice trailed off as he continued to apologize profusely. Rafael laughed.

"It's fine!" he reassured. "If all of this is real, we'll be here for a while anyways… the camp isn't so bad."

"Yeah!" Akina agreed. "You should come explore with us, Lucas!"

"Really?" Lucas' face lit up with a wide smile. "Okay!"

He began to walk towards the doors to the dining hall, but Rafael quickly turned him around.

"There's an um… 'sleeping dragon' in there, per se," he explained. _Don't want to deal with_ _ **her**_ _again._ "Let's go out the back door instead, alright?"

Lucas and Akina nodded, the three of them happily exiting the kitchen through the door in the back. Though Akina would never think to say it, she was happy that she'd made some new friends.

Maybe they'd make the road ahead easier.

Then again, maybe not.


	5. Chapter I-II: Afterthought

**Chapter I-II: Afterthought**

“... zero, zero, zero, zero, zero.”

The boy in a white doctor’s coat opened his mouth to ask what the other boy was doing.

“Oh, what am I doing?” The boy, wearing a sheep mask, shut his mouth again. The other boy answered before he could ask. “I’m counting the arrows in my not here quiver. If you wanna kill me and graduate, now would be the time!”

The sheep-masked boy stared. “Are you an archer?”

The other boy grinned. He wore the mask of a ferret, his hands wrapped in clean bandages.

“SHSL Archer, actually. The name’s Ukita Kanausuku!”

The boy smiled back warmly, even as his ElectroID vibrated unexpectedly in the back pocket of his trousers. His job required him to be conditioned to the unexpected, after all.

“I’m Hiiro Inaba, the SHSL Doctor.”

“Hiiro Inaba, huh..?” Ukita stared at him skeptically, then snapped his fingers. “I know! I’ll call you Doc! It’s much easier to remember!”

“Doc..?”

“Y’know, like doctor? That coat of yours is a pretty good reminder!”

Hiiro smiled ruefully. Memories, both good and bad, were intertwined with his area of work. If it hadn’t been for that day…

Ukita waved his hand vaguely in front of Hiiro’s face. “Something wrong, Doc?”

"Sorry, I…” He hesitated. “... it’s nothing.”

Ukita shrugged. “Well alright dude, whatever you say. Say, wanna go check out the cabins with me? Our rooms are supposed to be personalized or something like that, right? Maybe I can find some arrows and my bow!”

Hiiro nodded compliantly. What harm could it do, anyways?

“Sweet!” Ukita exclaimed. “I really hope that wasn’t just a thing on the invitation… it’d suck if all of our cabins were the same. I’d paint my walls a nice shade of light blue… periwinkle, even. I might ask that dragon for some paint later!”

“Well we are being held captive here…”

“That’s true,” Ukita agreed. “Hey, it’s worth a try.”

And with that, the two boys set off for the cabins on the edge of the clearing.

 

* * *

 

“Write lots, okay?” a cheerful voice asked. His younger sister.

“Hmph,” an older girl, about the same age as him, crossed her arms in a disinterested fashion. “Just fuck off and go to your dumbass school already. No one here will miss you anyways.”

“Yuuki!” his younger sister exclaimed. “That’s not true — I’ll miss him lots!”

He smiled. “I’ll miss you too, Hikari. Alright, I gotta go. I love you both, alright?”

His younger sister ran up and threw her arms around his waist. His other sister said nothing.

“Have fun, big brother!”

The coyote-masked boy was now standing by the firepit, his hands jammed into the pockets of his suit pants, his scarlet tie surging in the wind. He sighed, wondering what his two sisters were up to, now that he was gone.

“Hello, hello, hello there!” An unusually cheerful voice called from behind him.

Walking towards him was a koi-masked girl, dressed strikingly in a white blouse and red jacket, and waving happily. The boy recognized her as the girl who had introduced herself to everyone in the clearing earlier.

Shit, what was her name again?

Behind her were two others — the two presumably labelled, “Frog” and “Songbird”. They all looked to be around the same age as him, though the girl was definitely younger.

“What?” He eyed her warily. “Uh… hi.”

She smiled. “Hey. What’s your name?”

“Me? I’m Ichiro Mizushima, the uh, fuckin’...” He snapped his fingers. “Shark! Right, SHSL Shark.”

Information Updated: COYOTE - SHSL SHARK

The girl blinked. Ichiro thought he heard a few things buzz nearby. “... but you’re a coyote! Coyotes aren’t sharks! … I think.”

“No, not like, not like shark, shark. Like, poker player,” He glanced away. “You know what I’m trying to say.”

“Oh! I get it!” she exclaimed. She stuck her hand out to him. “I’m Akina, the SHSL Theorist!”

He yelled as his ElectroID suddenly vibrated in his pocket. The fuck is this..? Nonetheless, he took her hand and shook it firmly, coughing in an attempt to cover up his outburst.

“So, uh, you guys gonna jump me now or something?”

Lucas tilted his head to the side, his blonde hair falling over his ears. “Of course not! Why would we do that?”

“It’s three versus one right now…” Ichiro muttered. He suddenly snapped his head up. “I-I mean, it’s not like I couldn’t take you all on! Don’t fuck with me, alright?”

“Don’t worry, we wouldn’t try,” Rafael said. “Rafael, by the way. SHSL Memorizer.”

“Lucas Blixt, SHSL Music Producer,” Lucas smiled. “I… sorry, I didn’t mean to butt in… sorry…”

Akina laughed. “Lucas, stop apologizing!”

“Sorry… wait, no, I mean —!”

Ichigo chuckled. The three were an interesting crowd, that much was certain.

Rafael turned to Ichigo. “So, you wanna come look around with us?”

“Uh…” Ichigo paused. “Sure, why not.”

Akina beamed, spinning on her heel in a gracious twirl. “Yay! There’s four of us now, so only like… fifteen more to go!”

“Fourteen if you count ‘Fox’, or whatever her real name is.” Rafael pointed out.

“Wouldn’t it be faster if we split up?” Lucas asked.

“Pairs, then?”

Akina nodded. “Who does everyone want to go with?”

“I’ll go with anyone.” Lucas said timidly.

“Doesn’t fuckin’ matter to me.”

Akina hummed. Everyone here seemed so unopinionated, compliant. How were they ever going to make decisions?

“Then,” she said decidedly. “I’ll go with Rafael, if that’s okay?”

“I have no complaints.” Rafael said.

Ichiro cracked his knuckles absentmindedly. “It’s settled then,” He looked at Lucas. “Yo, bird-boy, you wanna go to the cabins?”

“O-Oh… sure..!”

“No point in standing around then. C’mon, let’s go.”

Immediately turning around, Ichiro began walking towards the cabins that bordered the treeline, his hands still stuffed in his pockets.  Lucas followed after him, giving Akina and Rafael a shy, half-hearted wave as he departed. Akina looked to Rafael for their next move.

“Where do you wanna go?” she asked.

“Hm…” Rafael tapped on his forehead with his right index finger, eyes narrowed in thought. “If I remember correctly, I think I heard running water when I first woke up. There might be a stream or something in the forest. Wanna go take a look?”

“Okay!” Akina surveyed what she could see of the camp. It didn’t look like anyone else was around, anyways.

Rafael smiled and began walking towards the forest, in the opposite direction that Lucas and Ichiro had gone.

“This way,” he said, as Akina skipped to catch up with him. “It shouldn’t be too far off. Just across the clearing here.”

“Rafael…”

He turned his head to look at her. “Huh, what is it?”

Akina had stopped walking — just a few steps after she had caught up to him — and now squinted at something in the distance. It was just barely visible amongst the tall grass that covered the clearing and came up to Akina’s knees.

“I think…” she began. “I think there’s something out there.”

Rafael stopped walking. He turned to look in the direction that Akina was facing, seeing the strange object. It was black, and roundish.

“I think you’re right… c’mon!” he yelled before running towards the thing in the grass. Akina followed after him, leaping over random tufts of grass whenever she saw it fit to do so.

“What the..!”

She almost crashed into Rafael when he suddenly stopped, getting a close up view of what they’d seen from afar.

A black-haired boy laid face down in the grass, dressed in a obsidian suit with a purple dress shirt underneath. He was notably shorter than Akina and Rafael — about half a head shorter than the two of them and a full head shorter than Ichiro. On his face was the mask of a panda.

“Hey,” Rafael knelt down, roughly shaking the boy’s shoulders. “Hey, are you alright?”

The boy didn’t stir. Akina knelt down on the other side of him, poking and prodding at his sides with a stick.

“Is he dead?” she asked.

“I don’t think so,” Rafael placed two fingers on the boy’s neck. “No — no, he definitely has a pulse. He’s breathing, too. Do you think he passed out here?”

Akina studied the boy’s position. She stood up, looking at the place in the clearing where they gathered to meet Monoryuu, then knelt down again. She poked the unconscious boy’s cheek, giggling as his nose twitched.

“He fell asleep!” she exclaimed.

Rafael looked up at her incredulously. “What, really? Here?”

“Mhm!” She nodded confidently, getting back onto her feet. “He probably has a condition or something! That’s my theory, anyways.”

“A theory from the SHSL Theorist huh…” Rafael murmured. He swooped the smaller boy up in his arms, glancing up at the just barely setting sun. “I don’t think it’s safe to leave him here, unconscious like this. I’m going to take him back to his cabin. Will you be alright on your own, Akina?”

Akina nodded.

“Alright,” Rafael said. “I’ll see you later, Akina.”

Akina watched as Rafael headed off towards the cabins. By now, Lucas and Ichiro were out of sight, although Rafael would probably run into them once he reached his destination.

She turned to gaze at the edge of the forest.

Rafael’s the SHSL Memorizer, she thought. There’s no way he’s wrong. I’ll find the stream on my own, and tell him about it later!

And so, the naive little theorist wandered into the untamed forest, searching for the stream and oblivious to the setting sun.

 

* * *

 

_Somewhere Else:_

“I simply love this!” a girl exclaimed in a sultry voice. “We should definitely do this more often.”

Another girl glanced at her in disinterest. The room was dim and barely lit, save for the red lights that glowed faintly from some unknown source.

“Be patient,” she chided gently. “We’ll be able to do this as many times as we want. Just sit back and enjoy the show.”

“Hm… they’re a bit young for my tastes though. Have you noticed yet..?”

The second girl nodded, resulting in a cackle from the first.

“It can’t be helped.” the first said.

“Red…” a third girl murmured. “So much red…”

The other two didn’t respond to her murmurs, allowing a stiff silence to fall upon the room.

 

* * *

 

_Aokigahara:_

In the dwindling light, Akina nimbly made her way through the untamed thicket of the forest.

I just have to listen for water, right..? But… I don’t hear anything...

Now that she thought about it, the forest really was eerily quiet. Not a single bird chirped, nor did a frog croak, or a grasshopper cry. There was an occasional rustling, but that was a result of the wind, not a living being.

Or so Akina thought.

Her scarf caught on a stray branch and Akina stumbled, barely managing to catch herself before she hit the dense roots on the ground. That was what made the terrain so difficult to traverse — the endless tangle of roots that wove through each other as if nature had intended for them to merge into one.

She huffed, plucking the end of her snow white scarf off of the prickly branch that had snagged it. Something rustled in the bushes nearby, but Akina thought nothing of it, attributing the noise to the wind that never seemed to stop.

She continued to hop from root to root, enveloping herself in a game to test her balance.

Thirty three… thirty four… thirty fi — kyaa!

The heel of her boot slipped off of the thirty fifth root, forcing her to fall backwards onto her other foot to steady herself. Still, that had been her longest streak yet.

“New record!” she chimed to herself, smiling triumphantly.

“Congratulations..!”

A sly, but chipper voice came from behind her. Alarmed by the sudden presence, Akina whirled around. “Who..?”

“Chehehehe…”

The snake masked boy stood just a few feet behind her, the same unnerving smile on his face from when Akina had seen him in the clearing. In one hand, he twirled a clear glass test tube, no doubt taken from the pocket of his white labcoat which contained similar items. A pair of clear blue goggles hung around his neck.

“Oh!” Akina exclaimed. She suddenly realized that his laugh made her uncharacteristically unsettled. “It’s you!”

He snickered softly, causing a chill to run down Akina’s spine. “Why yes…” he mused. “It’s me, indeed. Tell me, what is a fine lady like you doing out in the woods so late in the day?”

“I heard there was a stream… I want to find it.”

“A stream, huh..?” The boy flicked his hand to his right. His head tilted up just enough for Akina to see under his mask and see that his eyes were squinted into paper-thin slivers — one could even think that they were closed.

“That way.” he said simply, his white hair threatening to fall over his face.

“O-Oh...” Akina stumbled, slowly walking in the direction that the boy pointed. “Thanks!”

“Chehehehe… take care now, little fish.”

“You too..!”

Right as she was about to leave his sights, Akina abruptly turned around. The boy glanced at her curiously, wondering why she had stopped.

“Hey!” she called back to him. “What’s your name?”

The boy considered her question, taking a moment to think before answering.

“Jun Kurosawa,” he said. “The SHSL Chemist, if you couldn’t tell!”

Information Updated: SNAKE - SHSL CHEMIST

“I’m Akina!” She shouted as she turned around and ran off again. “Thanks for the help, Jun!”

Jun’s wicked smile didn’t change as he watched her back vanish behind a dense patch of trees. When she disappeared entirely, he turned around, placing his test tube back into the pocket of his labcoat before leisurely walking in the direction of the camp.

“Anytime, my lovely theorist.”

 

* * *

 

After a few minutes of running through the foliage, Akina arrived at the stream, breathless but ecstatic.

The brook was not quite as large as a river, but easily a few meters across and required some waist-level wading to get through. Smooth pebbles and stones lined the banks, devoid of the plant life that seemed to overtake every other part of the forest.

Akina peered down into the crystal clear waters. She wanted to see fish — a few dragonflies, at least. Unfortunately for her, the area lacked any wildlife whatsoever.

The segment where Akina stood stretched far into the distance. Upstream from her were a few small waterfalls, large rocks parting the water and revealing the ash-colored rock that served as the foundation for the river.

Akina turned her head to the left, glancing downstream, and gasped.

It was there, but only briefly. A mirage — a flicker in reality.

A body was caught on the rocks. A girl with black hair, a white scarf, and a china red jacket.

For a moment, Akina stood in stunned silence, staring wide-eyed at the corpse as it bobbed against the boulder, pushed by the constant flow of the water.

She breathed, and then the body was gone again.


	6. Lilac

**Chapter I-III: Lilac**

"He's got narcolepsy." Hiiro explained, gesturing for Rafael to place the unconscious boy on the bed of the cabin.

"Narco-what, Doc?" Ukita asked as he stepped inside.

"Narcolepsy," Hiiro repeated. "Basically, it's a condition that makes it easy for him to fall into deep periods of sleep."

"So he does have a condition..." Rafael murmured. "Akina was right..."

"Akina?" Hiiro raised an eyebrow. "Ah right, that koi-girl from earlier."

Ichiro stared out of the cabin window, gazing into the darkness outside. It was night by now and the students' explorations had temporarily ceased, the clearing falling silent as a result.

The poker shark turned to Rafael, a bit of questionable concern clear in his tone. "Hey, uh… wasn't she supposed to be with you?"

"She said she'd be alright on her own," Rafael replied. "... I hope she was telling the truth."

"Should we go look for her?" Lucas offered.

"I'm not sure that's a good idea," Ukita paced around the room. "Even with my eyesight—and trust me, my eyesight's pretty good, being an archer and all—I won't be able to find her in the dark like this."

"Fuck. She's lost, isn't she?" Ichiro ran a hand through his combed brown hair.

"She might have gone back to her own cabin," Hiiro proposed. "This is my cabin, after all. I don't think she'd know to come here."

"Ah… shouldn't we check just in case?" Lucas asked shyly. "I mean, it's better to be safe than sorry, right..?"

"Agreed!" Ukita shouted, causing the virtuoso to jump. "Besides, it seems these cabins aren't personalized anyways, so I got nothin' to gain here. Alright birdy, lead the way!"

"Wh-What? I don't know where her cabin is!"

"Huh? You don't?" Ukita scratched his head. His brown hair was tied into a ponytail that fell to his waist. "Dang. I thought you'd know for sure."

"It shouldn't be too hard to find…" Hiiro glanced down at the panda-masked boy asleep on the bed. _Damn, I wish this place had a medical center._

He sighed. "I'm going to stay here and see what I can do for him. Be careful, alright?"

"Will do, Doc!" Ukita called as he opened the door. Apparently one could always leave from the inside, regardless of whether the door was locked or not.

_At least we have a doctor here,_ Rafael thought. He looked to Hiiro. "We'll be back soon."

The doctor nodded sagely, settling down in a wooden chair in the corner of the room and watching as the other four boys departed into the dark campground outside.

* * *

Akina winced as her hand batted into a thorny bush, pricking her delicate skin. She mewled miserably. Why had she stayed out so late? The forest was entirely dark now, a daunting pathway of roots and thicket. It had been hard enough walking through when the sun was still up. Now, it was just impossible.

In a last, desperate attempt to gain some guidance, she called out into the desolate forest.

"Jun? Anyone?"

Nothing.

She pressed forward, feeling another thorn cut across her left cheek. The woodland was filled with patches of thorny bushes like these, winding up the trunks of trees and dangling from their branches like barbed wire. She winced, but kept moving. At least she was past that bit now.

She felt the terrain change beneath her feet—dirt and pebbles, no longer grass and thick roots. _Oh,_ she realized, smiling in relief. _I'm almost back!_

She had encountered an area like this on her way to the stream. It was a thin strip of dirt and pebbles hadn't been covered in greenery, for a lack of water, sunlight, or other reasons.

Her thoughts went back to what she had seen in the water. The body's petite stature… shoulder length black hair… it was undoubtedly… _her own body._

Perhaps she had hallucinated, she decided. The day had been a stressful one, after all, and the "body" had only been there for a mere second.

Just as her mind began to consider the possible causes for hallucination, she felt the ground slip out from underneath her. No, that wasn't quite the right way to describe it. She had tried to step forward, and her foot had met empty air. Her body tumbled forward, panic coursing through her veins as she realized that she had walked right off of one of the forest's steep cliffs.

A firm arm wrapped itself around Akina's waist, jerking her backwards and forcing the air out of her lungs. Much, _much_ lower, she faintly heard a few pebbles hit the ground. Her lips parted, gasping for breath as the person pulled her back onto solid ground.

"You okay?" a man's voice asked.

"Yeah…" Akina breathed, her breath forming small clouds in the chilly night air. "Yeah… thanks."

She turned her head to meet the salamander mask of a broad shouldered young man. A small patch of facial hair on his chin brushed against her cheek, his hair loose and tickling her ears.

"Careless," he muttered almost inaudibly. He stepped back again, just to be safe, and released her from his grasp. Akina could hear him bending down to pick up a small rock and tossing it off of the unseen cliffside.

It hit the ground a few seconds later.

"Easily a few hundred feet," he said. Akina felt his hand grab onto her wrist tightly, like a mother who didn't want to lose her child in the crowd. "Come. You aren't safe out here."

He walked back in the direction that she had come from. Akina silently complied, following after him as best she could. How he could navigate so well in the darkness, she didn't know.

"Um," she spoke quietly, stumbling over a small rock. "Aren't we going away from the camp..?"

"We are," she heard him answer. A branch snapped with unnatural loudness.

She faltered again, but this time she felt him jerk her close to him. The next thing she knew, she was on his back, her arms clasped in front of his chest.

He didn't say a word, nor did she. She was too tired to argue.

He moved through the forest with ease, traversing it as though it were normal terrain. Not once during the journey did Akina hear him grunt or feel him trip. He ducked under branches and hopped over gaps in the roots, seemingly unaffected by her weight.

_Where are we going…?_ Akina wondered, resting her weary head against his shoulder. She felt the muscles in his neck stiffen as he turned to glance at her, but didn't hear him say anything. _He must spend a lot of time in the forest… he's so strong… or maybe I'm just light?_

After a while, her eyes opened to see a small flickering in the distance. The boy was walking straight towards it.

"A fire…?" she murmured sleepily, rubbing her eyes. He nodded.

The fire was in the middle of a clearing, incomparable in size to the clearing where the camp was. It was only a few meters wide, but it was enough to keep the fire from spreading to any foliage around them. The boy sat Akina down on a tree stump, taking a seat across from her on a fallen tree that had been stripped of its branches.

Akina snuck a peek at the boy, now that they were in the light of the fire. He was watching her intently, wearing a plain green t-shirt and some loose gray cargo pants.

His mask was that of a salamander's—red and lively, with dark shadows for eyes.

"Ah…" she began. "How did you find me?"

"You weren't exactly being quiet."

"But… you caught me."

"I did what I had to." He continued to study her. When he spoke, Akina could tell that he was holding back contempt. "... why did you stay out so late?"

Akina scratched her cheek. "I was… looking for something."

The boy muttered something under his breath, shaking his head. "This forest is dangerous," he said. "You should stick with the others. Stay back at camp, where it's safe."

Akina stared. "But then… why are you out here, all on your own?"

The boy turned away, gazing into the small fire.

"I'm more suited to nature," he answered at last. He looked up to meet Akina's eyes—no, her mask—and gave a small smile. "The name's Robert Handle. SHSL Survivalist."

**Information Updated: SALAMANDER - SHSL SURVIVALIST**

_So that's how he made the fire._ Akina smiled back at him. She saw the corner of his lips twitch ever so slightly, and paused.

"You don't need to smile for me," she said as nonchalantly as she could.

Robert's expression persisted for a moment before faltering, and then gradually vanishing. He leaned forward on the tree trunk, perplexed.

"Who says I'm smiling for you?"

"You can see it in the way your lips move," Akina said. "You're forcing them to curl."

He let out a small grunt of annoyance. "Am I?" _Damn, she's more intelligent than I thought._

"You are!" She abruptly lowered her voice, realizing how loud she had shouted. "I'm Akina Hiroyuki, by the way. I got invited to be the SHSL Theorist."

Robert's ElectroID buzzed, causing the survivalist to stiffen. When he reached to take it out of his pocket, something else fell out along with it.

Akina pointed at the small leather object in the dirt. "What's that?"

Robert looked at where she was pointing, realizing, then leaned down and picked up the object. He held it up to his face, staring at it in silence.

"... just my wallet," he answered, placing it back into his pocket. When Akina didn't press further, he continued. "So, the SHSL Theorist managed to walk right off a cliff?"

Akina flushed. She hoped that he couldn't see it under her mask and the orange glow of the fire.

"I can only form theories off of the knowledge I have," she explained sheepishly. "I don't know much about navigation, or this terrain, so…"

"Fair enough," Robert replied.

"What about you?" Akina asked. "You were walking in the dark so easily. It was amazing."

"Survivalist, remember?"

"Still…" Her voice trailed off.

Robert averted his gaze, debating internally with himself although Akina couldn't tell. After a while, he sighed quietly and faced her.

"I've traveled to many places," he began. "But not places you'd expect, like cities or countries. No, I mean places like the Sahara, and the Alps. You've probably never seen either of them before, have you?"

Akina shook her head. Robert took this as a signal to continue.

"There aren't any light switches out there, you know. By nighttime, you either have a fire or make do with what you got." He gazed at the fire, watching as it batted away the darkness that threatened to surround them. "Darkness is one of the first things you get used to. Our eyes gradually adjust as it gets darker, allowing us to see when it's almost pitch black. That's the way our bodies were made to work."

"Huh..? But I still tripped over every little thing!"

He sighed. "I hate to tell you this, friend, but that's because you didn't know how to get around it in the first place."

"Oh." Akina puffed. Her eyes were begging to close. "I thought I was pretty good at it…"

"Are you tired?" Robert asked, noticing the lull in her voice.

"Just a little…"

He watched her, apathetically, for a little while. Then, when her body began to lean to the side, he walked over and sat down next to her on the large tree stump. Akina relaxed her tiny frame against his body, fighting to keep her eyes open.

"Sleep," he said.

"What about you…?"

"I'll keep watch."

She gazed up at him with half-lidded eyes. "Keep watch for what…?"

He frowned. "This is a killing game. You can never be too careful."

"Oh… right." Akina's eyes fluttered closed. "Wake me up after a while… we can take shifts…"

"Will do."

The young theorist finally allowed her mind to rest, Robert's presence and the comforting heat of the flames willing her into a sound sleep.

* * *

"Uhh, guys?" Ukita asked, pressing up against the window of Akina's cabin. "Preeeeeeetty sure she's not in there."

The four boys stood in the dark pathways of the cabin area in the camp. Dim light flooded out from the windows of various cabins, but the cabins were so spread out that almost no light reached the area around Akina's.

"She must still be in the forest…" Rafael murmured.

Lucas shivered, pulling his brown utilitarian jacket tighter around himself. "Do you think she's lost?"

"Or dead." Ichiro muttered gruffly. The others stared at him in bewilderment. "What, you don't think it's fucking possible?!"

"Look, let's not—" Rafael swallowed. "Let's not jump to that possibility right now. She's probably fine."

Ukita stretched his arms over his head. "Yeah dude. I mean there's like, twenty of us or something, right? Maybe she met up with someone else."

"I hope that's what happened…" Lucas said quietly. His eyes shifted around warily. He hated the dark—no, he _feared_ it.

Ichigo jammed his hands into his pockets. "Let's just go back to our fucking cabins. We can look for her in the morning, if she still isn't back."

The three were silent, considering his suggestion. It was likely that the missing girl would return by morning. At best, she'd be perfectly fine, and she'd have a story to tell too.

Then again, at worst, she'd be dead.

_She's fine,_ Rafael reassured himself. Lucas looked at him, apprehension evident in the curve of his lips.

"I'll go tell Doc, then." Ukita said. "See you guys in the morning?"

"Yeah." Rafael exhaled. "Goodnight, everyone."

Ichiro nodded promptly, then turned his back and stalked off towards his cabin. Ukita smiled in parting before doing the same, only heading towards Hiiro's cabin to inform the doctor of Akina's disappearance.

"Ah… goodnight, Rafael." Lucas said hushedly. The music producer then took off towards his own cabin at a pace that seemed a bit too quick to be rational.

Now alone, Rafael glanced back at Akina's empty cabin one last time before walking to his own residence, certain that he would find her in the morning.

* * *

_Aokigahara Forest — Dawn_

Akina awoke to, unsurprisingly, silence. She rubbed her eyes sleepily, just barely recalling the events from the previous day.

"Robert…?" she called softly, noting that the small camp was now deserted. The fire had burnt out, and the sun was rising into the sky, just barely visible above the high treeline.

_He was supposed to wake me up…!_ Akina bit down angrily on the inside of her cheek. She stood up, brushing off her skirt and stretching out her tired limbs. _Did he even sleep at all?_

She tried again, a bit louder this time. "Robert?"

Still, no response. Akina approached the edge of the tiny patch of clearing, searching for any signs of the survivalist. An arrow made out of broken branches pointed her in the direction of the camp.

_Oh, I see!_ Akina realized. _He must have gone back while I was asleep._

Not wanting any forest fires, Akina made sure the fire was entirely put out before heading off towards the camp.

* * *

When she had almost reached the clearing, Akina was surprised to hear two girls chatting away at the edge of the forest.

"—and she said, 'the only yellow people I trust are the Simpsons!'"

Both girls laughed, one more hysterically than the other. Akina recognized the voice of the speaker as the girl who wore an otter mask. Hopping over a stray weed, the theorist snuck up closer to the two, wanting to get a better look at them.

Standing there in the tall grass was, in-fact, the otter girl. She sported a short black dress, and her honey blonde hair was styled back into two buns, tied by ribbons. Beside her stood the deer-masked girl who had laughed at Monoryuu yesterday. Consistent with her animal mask, this girl's appearance was far more laid back: a blue sweater and matching beanie, her pink ahoge poking out of the top.

"Jeez," the deer-masked girl chuckled gently. "I didn't know you were so racist!"

The first girl scoffed. "Please! Racial stereotypes and familial issues are my specialty!"

Akina watched the two with innocent curiosity. _Racial stereotypes…?_

"So, you said you're Italian?"

"Born and raised," the otter-veiled girl said. "I'm proud to be one, too!"

The calmer girl smiled. "That's nice. I'm Japanese, myself."

"Oh, yeah! Don't they call you 'the queen of the court' or something here?"

She nodded. "I'm the SHSL Attorney, after all."

**Information Updated: DEER - SHSL ATTORNEY**

The buzzing from Akina's back pocket soon alerted the two of their little observer, and Akina jumped, only rustling the bushes further. The two girls frowned, the girl with an otter mask flaring and stomping over to Akina's hiding spot.

Akina waved at her sheepishly, crouched down behind a large tree. "Hello!"

"Ciao," the otter-girl stated curtly. "And you are?"

The attorney sauntered over next to them, lazily rubbing the back of her head and disturbing her pink hair. She glanced down at Akina, revealing her light blue eyes to the theorist. "Hm… Akina, right? I remember you from the meeting earlier."

"You do?"

She nodded. "Though, with a personality like that, I'm surprised that you're hiding over here watching us. Why didn't you come out and say hi?"

"Maybe she's a pervert or something?" the other girl suggested.

"That's not it at all!" Akina huffed. "I just heard you two talking from a distance and didn't want to interrupt."

"What kind of logic is that…?!"

"Well, whatever." The attorney extended a hand down to Akina. "I'm Micho Auruka. Attorney at law. It's nice to meet you, Akina."

"It's nice to meet you too!" Akina smiled as the girl pulled her up.

"I'm Angioletta Ferrari," the other girl said with a grin. "SHSL Comedian!"

**Information Updated: OTTER - SHSL COMEDIAN**

"Is racism really your specialty?"

"Well, I can work with almost anything, really," Angioletta replied. "but it's how I started off, and if it ain't broke, don't fix it!"

Micho sighed. "That's a potential court case right there."

Angioletta smirked. "You do what you need to to survive."

_Survive…?_ Akina gasped in realization. "I need to find someone! I'll talk to you two later, bye!"

Without another word, she ran off full speed towards the campgrounds. Angioletta and Micho exchanged skeptical glances.

"How strange." Micho commented.

"Isn't she?" Angioletta laughed. "She'll make great material!"

* * *

Hiiro yawned, stepping outside of the cabin to get some fresh air. The panda-masked boy _still_ hadn't woken up, and the doctor was beginning to question just how severe his condition was. In the distance, he thought he saw a girl running right towards his cabin.

_What is she doing…?_

He realized quickly that she wasn't running towards his cabin, but past it, and into the camp. She was wearing a koi mask, a white scarf, and a bright red jacket over a blouse. Somehow, he felt like he needed to speak with her…

Wait, wasn't that—

"Hey!" he called as she dashed past him. "Aren't you—"

"Sorry! I can't talk right now!"

And just like that, the girl was gone again, running into the central campgrounds. Hiiro sighed, scratching the back of his head in defeat. _Jeez, what is she so rushed about…?_

* * *

Akina burst through the doors of the dining hall to see Rafael, Lucas, Ichiro, Robert, and almost all of the other students gathered together eating breakfast.

"Akina!" Rafael exclaimed, chewing on some pancakes.

Lucas almost spat out his coffee. "Miss Akina!"

"Fish girl?" Ichiro questioned.

Akina was equally surprised to see all of them there. "Robert?"

"You two know each other?" Rafael asked.

"Oh good," Robert said, taking another bite of eggs and swallowing before answering. "So you didn't get lost after all."

"That was mean!" Akina exclaimed. "I thought you fell off of a cliff or something!"

"I think you're more likely to do that."

Akina's cheeks turned red. Somewhat poutingly, she sat down at an empty seat in between Lucas and a girl wearing a hummingbird mask.

"Here!" the girl next to her exclaimed, passing her a plate of food once she had seated herself. "We made a lot earlier. You must be hungry! Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot to introduce myself! Rina Kimura, SHSL Pilot at your service!"

**Information Updated: HUMMINGBIRD - SHSL PILOT**

_She talks so fast!_ Akina stared down at the food on her plate. "Wow…" she remarked. "This all looks so good!"

"Doesn't it?" Rina beamed.

"Miss Rina made it all on her own this morning." Lucas said. "She's an excellent cook."

"What? Really?" Akina turned to the pilot. "That's amazing!"

"Oi, Akina," Ichiro called from further down the table. "Where the fuck were you anyway? We were lookin' all over the fuckin' place for you."

Akina scratched her cheek. "I was in the forest… with Robert."

A peacock-masked boy sitting nearby parted his lips in delight. His mask was decorated with exquisite green and blue feathers, contrasting his honey colored hair which was combed and reached halfway down his neck.

"Oh my, how romantic!" he marveled. "Did you two have some _fun_?"

"Hideo!" someone hissed.

The boy chuckled softly. "Just kidding~ I'm Hideo Nanpa, the SHSL Romantic. It's nice to finally meet you, Miss Akina."

**Information Updated: PEACOCK - SHSL ROMANTIC**

Akina's ElectroID buzzed loudly against the wooden frame of her chair. Becoming slightly annoyed, Akina reached into her back pocket and placed the device on the white tablecloth instead. She noticed the girl sitting across the table watching her carefully, eyes hidden behind an owl mask and her black hood drawn over her head as the others went back to chatting amongst themselves.

"That's bothering you, isn't it?" the girl asked quietly. She reached across the table, presenting her open hand to Akina. "Give it here."

Akina reluctantly complied, placing her ElectroID into the enigmatic girl's hand. The girl took it and fiddled with it for a bit, hitting strange combinations of buttons and rebooting the high-tech device several times. The device whirred in protest as she manipulated it. After another minute or so, she set it down and slid it back across the table to Akina.

"There," she said. "Now it won't vibrate anymore when you make an introduction."

"Really?" Akina asked. The girl nodded. "Thanks! Are you an, um… programmer?"

The girl shook her head, dirty blonde hair and sideswept bangs falling just past her chin. "My name is Kasumi Inoue. I'm the SHSL Psychoanalyst."

True to Kasumi's words, Akina's ElectroID didn't buzz. Still, a small graphic of an owl popped up with text written beneath it:

**Information Updated: OWL - SHSL PSYCHOANALYST**

"Psycho… analyst?"

Kasumi averted her gaze, slipping her headphones back over her ears. "It's just my talent... you're the SHSL Theorist, aren't you?"

Akina nodded, then paused. "How did you know that?"

The owl-masked girl opened her mouth to answer, but just then, the doors to the dining hall opened again.

Akina turned to look at the door, a brief moment passing before she realized who it was. "Oh, it's you!"

In the doorway was the doctor with a sheep mask, the panda-masked boy finally awake and standing next to him. The doctor smiled warmly at Akina.

"It's good to see that you're safe," he said, taking a seat. Akina saw the other boy take a seat farther down. "I can finally introduce myself properly. I'm Hiiro Inaba, the SHSL Doctor."

**Information Updated: SHEEP - SHSL DOCTOR**

"Introduce yourself properly?" Akina questioned. "Oh! Were you looking for me yesterday too?"

He shook his head. "Ukita and the others were doing that."

"Ukita?"

"That'd be me!" someone called from the end of the table. The ferret-masked boy waved with a bandaged hand. "Yo! I'm Ukita Kanausuku, SHSL Archer."

**Information Updated: FERRET - SHSL ARCHER**

Akina saw his hands and frowned. "What happened to your hands?"

"Nothing really. They're fine, the bandages are just to protect my hands during training."

"Now that I think about it," Rafael said. "If I recall correctly, you won the national archery championship last year, didn't you?"

"Sure did." Ukita grinned, tossing his ponytail behind him so that he could eat. "Besides, if you wanna talk about bandages, just look at bandage-boy over there!"

The boy in question had bandages covering his neck and short, wavy white hair, his face hidden behind an eggshell-colored mouse mask. He wore a black armband on each of his wrists, though underneath those, Akina could see even more bandages.

Her blatant stares caught the boy's attention, and he addressed her.

"He-Hello there. I'm Apus Larkspur, the SHSL Bomber."

**Information Updated: MOUSE - SHSL BOMBER**

"Your neck and wrists…"

"Oh, these?" Apus laughed, though he failed to mask the apprehension in his voice. "They're nothing, really."

"Liar." Akina heard Kasumi mutter.

"So," he continued, not having heard Kasumi's comment. "You're Akina, the SHSL Theorist? Ah, your talent's much better than mine."

"That's not true! All I do is think… 'Bomber' sounds much cooler!"

"It's not something you really want to be known for." He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, grinning at Akina before another person took his attention away.

Akina looked at the panda-masked boy sitting a few seats down from Apus, who was now chatting away with a girl wearing a parakeet mask and a pink polka dotted headband. Not wanting to interrupt the two of them, she turned back to Hiiro.

"What happened to him, anyways? The boy in a panda mask?"

"He's got narcolepsy," Hiiro replied, pouring himself a hot cup of coffee. "It makes it easy for him to fall asleep, especially in relaxing conditions like this forest. Speaking of which, I heard from Rafael that you predicted such a thing?"

"It was just a theory!"

"Coming from the SHSL Theorist, I'd say that your theories deserve to be called more than 'just theories'. Have you ever considered taking up a career in the medical field? I think you'd be excellent at diagnosing patients."

Akina nuzzled her scarf with a soft sigh. "I don't think I'd be any good at that. I mean, what would I do if one of my patients died because I got their diagnosis wrong?"

Hiiro took a long sip of his coffee before answering. He liked coffee. The warmth it gave was comforting, a difference from a work environment haunted by the chill of death.

"Sometimes you just have to accept that it isn't your fault."

Everyone's ElectroIDs suddenly crackled to life, white noise emitting from the speakers and overriding all conversation.

Akina gaped down at her ElectroID, eyes scanning the words on the screen. _It's a communication device too…?_

_Connected: Monoryuu_

_Please stand by for further instructions._

"What the hell is this?!" someone shouted.

"Monoryuu…?"

_"_ _Good morning, students."_ The noise subsided as Monoryuu's gruff voice came through the speakers. There was a pause, then a thud outside in the clearing. The dining hall shook with the force of the impact, causing several students to grab onto the table to steady themselves.

_"_ _You have thirty minutes to get to the main clearing,"_ Monoryuu continued. _"Anyone not present thirty minutes from now will be immediately and appropriately punished. I suggest that you don't be late. That is all."_

The transmission ended with another burst of white noise. Akina's ElectroID continued to update, and the others' appeared to be doing the same.

_Connection ended._

_ " _ _Connection: Monoryuu" added to History._

_Your history may be accessed at any time through the main menu._

Flickering again, the transmission window soon vanished, their ElectroIDs reverting back to normal and displaying the main menu, as well as a graphic of their representative animal.

"Wh-what should we do?" someone squeaked.

Robert promptly stood up from his seat, nodding his head towards the exit. "We go to the clearing, of course."

"I agree." Hideo chimed, standing up with a wink. "I can't have all my beautiful faces being marred by the headmaster's punishments."

"Let's go already!" Rina exclaimed, jumping to her feet. "I want to see what he has for us!"

One by one, the students agreed to leave the dining hall and do as Monoryuu said. On the way out, Akina caught up with the panda-masked boy and the parakeet-girl chatting with him.

"Oh, hello!" The girl greeted Akina happily as she ran up next to the boy. She wore a cute, peach-colored dress that reached her knees and a short, buttonless tan vest. Akina realized that this girl also seemed to speak quickly.

"My name is Momoko! Shirayuki Momoko, but you may call me Momo! Yes, I know, it means 'peach', but you know what? I hate peaches! One bite and I'm dead. How ironic, right? I'm allergic to my own name!"

Akina's head whirled. "Ah…"

"You're Akina, aren't you? It's very nice to meet you! Oh, right—I'm the SHSL Anime Seiyuu!"

**Information Updated: PARAKEET - SHSL ANIME SEIYUU (VOICE ACTOR)**

"Now that I think about it," the panda-masked boy began. "Didn't you voice the main character in _Mahou Shoujo Midori Magica?_ A show with magical girls or something?"

Momo beamed. "Yep, that was me! Are you a fan of the show?"

"I don't watch very much anime." he said, running a hand through his black hair. "I had a request from a cosplayer once, to make a costume from the show. I thought I needed to get the true essence of the character, so I ended up watching the whole thing."

"Do you get cosplay requests often?" Akina asked.

"Not too many. I'm originally from Italy, so anime obviously isn't as prominent there." His gaze wandered over to Akina, silently judging her outfit before remembering, "Oh yes, I still need to thank you. I heard that you and Rafael brought me to the cabins when I fell asleep."

"It's no problem, really! Rafael carried you anyways, and I think Hiiro watched over you…"

"Is that so?" He sighed. "Such a shame. The medication for my condition was supposed to be at Hope's Peak, but I'm afraid I won't have access to it now."

"Maybe you can ask for some from Monoryuu?" Momo suggested. "I mean, it's getting in the way of our 'lessons', isn't it?"

"Falling asleep makes me an easy target for murder, so he might as well prefer it this way."

"Th-There's no way this 'killing' thing is real, so you don't need to worry about that!"

"Have you always fallen asleep easily?" Akina inquired.

He shook his head. "I… overworked myself and developed it over time." He forced a grimace off of his face and turned to Akina. "Oh, that's right. I haven't introduced myself to you yet, have I? I'm Rico Nasta, the SHSL Tailor."

**Information Updated: PANDA - SHSL TAILOR**

Akina smiled brightly. "It's nice to meet you, Rico!"

"The same to you."

By now, all of the students from the dining hall had reached the center of the clearing. Monoryuu rested in the tall grass, watching with scornful eyes as the students wandered into the area in small groups. Akina noticed that the other students who hadn't come from the dining hall, like Angioletta and Micho, were already at the clearing as well.

"Well, dragon?" Jun asked mischievously, twirling a test tube in his left hand. "Why did you call us here?"

Monoryuu's red eye glinted, and Akina saw translucent lines of code on the glossy red surface, as though Monoryuu read data from the air itself.

_"_ _Hm,"_ the dragon snorted. _"so you all made it after all. I'll get on with it then."_

His claws pulled up thick tufts of grass as he got into a more suitable position. _"Your results are disappointing._ " he said coldly. _"As of now, you are all failing your lessons."_

"No one cares about your lessons!" Angioletta shouted.

The dragon chuckled. Puffs of wispy, ashen smoke drifted from his mouth. _"Are you sure?"_ he questioned, staring at her with a knowing, sharp-toothed grin. _"Well, no matter. A good teacher must know how to get through to his students. That's why today, you'll be receiving your first motive."_

"Motive…?" Apus murmured. "M-Motive as in, to kill?"

_"_ _That's correct."_

Kasumi studied the dastardly creature with care. "... what could you possibly give us that would be powerful enough to make us kill each other?"

_"_ _Things you could never even dream of."_ He stalked up next to her, whispering softly in her ear. _"For example, I could erase the reason you were born."_

Kasumi narrowed her eyes. She didn't dare falter in his presence, especially not while all of her classmates were watching them. "How do you know about that?"

Monoryuu merely pulled his head back and smiled. " _I know many things."_

_"_ _Now,"_ he continued. _"your first motive. As a bonus to successfully graduating, the blackened student will also have the choice of erasing their past, and, if desired, gaining amnesia."_

"What?!" Ukita protested. "Why would anyone want to erase their past, let alone get amnesia?"

"What does blackened mean…?" Akina asked.

_"_ _A 'blackened' student is one that has fallen into despair, and embraced their lessons."_ Monoryuu explained. _"As for willingly losing their memories… well, I'm sure that some of your classmates are more than capable of explaining their highly questionable pasts."_

The students exchanged apprehensive glances, and Monoryuu roared with laughter.

_"_ _What, you didn't know?"_ he mocked. _"Liars and murderers hide amongst you!"_

"N-No way…" Lucas whispered. "That's…"

_"_ _Impossible? No, Songbird, it is the truth. How long will it be, I wonder, before one of them betrays the 'trust' of your class? Weeks? Days? Hours?"_ He laughed again. _"Oh, what a pitiful group you are, not knowing such a simple piece of information."_

No one dared to answer him, so he continued.

_"_ _To those of you who wish to erase your pasts, come to terms with despair."_

_"_ _As for the rest of you… try not to fall into hysterics too quickly. The game isn't as fun that way."_

And with another gust of wind, the dragon flew off, leaving the doubtful students on their own again.


End file.
